Unhelpful

Apparently concluding that the neglect of diplomatic officials hasn't yet caused enough problems for Maher Arar, the Department of Foreign Affairs is now refusing to offer any effective assistance as Arar plans a trip to testify in Europe about his experience:

Arar is scheduled to fly to Brussels March 23, where he will testify before the European Parliament's committee on the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners.

Last week, Arar's lawyer Marlys Edwardh wrote to the Foreign Affairs Department asking that he be guaranteed safe passage to the meeting.

"The Government of Canada is not in a position to make assurances or to guarantee the safe passage of Canadian citizens once they travel outside of Canadian jurisdiction," says the response letter, delivered late Tuesday...

"I would suggest that you contact the Belgian authorities in Canada if you have any questions or concerns," added the letter, signed by Foreign Affairs legal adviser Alan Kessel.

It shouldn't be particularly difficult to figure out which concerns Arar might have about the trip, especially given the prospect that a flight could be diverted to the U.S. or another country due to travel conditions. And if Foreign Affairs is completely unwilling to do anything more than send a note to Belgium confirming that Arar does indeed plan to make the trip, the main question that comes to mind is how Foreign Affairs could possibly have learned nothing at all from what's already happened to Arar.

But apparently Canadian officials aren't interested in hearing or dealing with the obvious. Which means that when Arar steps onto the airplane for the purpose of testifying as to the torture endured last time he attempted to travel, his fate is at best in the hands of his destination country (which has apparently already done more than Canada to help), and at worst completely unknown.